Bernay the Dangerous....

The Century of the Self (Part 1) Response

To be honest a minute into this video I thought for the next thirty minutes I would be watching another boring informational video that would leave most students struggling to stay awake. Thirty minutes into the video I was engaged and almost blown away by the content of this short video. In a broad sense the idea’s Bernay put forth during that time period were genius, powerful and overall dangerous. His tactics he used to achieve his goals were in my mind one of a kind and I believe Bernay’s psychological ideas were crucial to society during World War 2.
A student and colleague of Sigmund Freud it was obvious that this man had the potential to produce both knowledge and power to whoever ends up getting him to work for them. Obviously during the twenties Bernay’s ideas shined not only to the government by getting America to go from a “needs to a desire” country, but also his ideas within politics proved to be a outright difference maker. To me his work with transforming America’s society was amazing; but I think almost put people in a position where they were being brainwashed. Although his ideas were used to obtain a national good, did people stand a chance against this ethical mastermind? For instance the situation where he spun the idea of how smoking to men symbolized power, therefore women to gain power in a symbolical sense should start smoking. Pure Genius! These women were simply conforming to their sect of society and the cigarette companies were gaining grounds in business all because of Bernay’s ideas.

Bernay to venture into politics proved to be only another success. The idea of using popular culture icons such as movie stars to fling politicians images upward is again rather abstract thinking but extremely effective. He made mass society associate popular culture with politicians (who in a whole sense had few things in common) and therefore gain support just through recognition. In my mind I think that at this point Bernay could use his profession in just about anything. His work in psychoanalysis could be connected and used with just about any area that consisted of shaping society to act or behave a certain way. What if Bernay dabbled his ideas into other things such as music or athletic events during this time? Would we now be recognizing different sport stars or musicians for their work during that time?
Now you may ask why I regarded Bernay’s ideas as being “dangerous”. It’s not because his motives of that time were dangerous but what if his motives had been different. The ability to alter and control peoples’ minds is outright scary. Now is when World War 2 and the connection between Bernay’s ideas and Germany’s propaganda usage become relevant. I think there is a direct correlation between the way Joseph Goebbels used propaganda to make most Germans during WW2 let loose of their moral and ethical conscience. He simply “manipulated the masses” and led German society to believe that their motives behind engaging in the war were right and anyone that challenged their beliefs were incorrect. Again it’s scary how this idea and ability to use anything from magazines, movies, commercials, etc to control a mass group of people can conduct such immoral activities. The progress in itself is a powerful one that could produce a wide variety of outcomes such as advancements, successes, and even huge mistakes.
Personally after watching the video there was a lot of questions that first came to mind. Questions like; what if Bernay’s ideas connected to different parts of society? Also what if Bernay used his ideas to induce “bad things”, such as revolts or out lashes against certain accepted societal tendencies of the time? Could he of led people of America to believe anything, for any reason?